Means for sealing preserving-jars.



NITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM WALTER, or SHELTON, WASHINGTON.

MEANS FOR SEALING PRESERVlNG-JARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 714,539, dated November 25, 1902.

Application filed. September 10, 1902. Serial No. 122,770. (No modeLl.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WALTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Shelton, in the county of Mason and State of Washington, have invented a new and Improved Means for Sealing Preserving-Jars, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact vision of a simple and inexpensive article per inserted into the mouth of the jar.

adapted for use in the process of packing fruit or vegetables in jars, bottles, or the like, said device adapted to admit of the free ingress of a hot syrup or of a heated liquid to the jar after the latter shall have been charged with fruit in order to fill the neck of the container above the top of the substance which it is desired to preserve, such syrup or liquid fill ingthe space in the jar which is ordinarily allowed to remain vacant and in which the vacuum is usually formed.

With these ends in View the invention consists in means for sealing preserving jars, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to behad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation through a portion of a preserving-jar, illus-' trating the application of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view, on an enby me for the admission of a heated liquid or syrup to the interior of the jar after the latter shall have been filled and the cork or stop- Fig.

3 is across-section ofthe strip shown by Fig. 2. A indicates a preserving jar or bottle of any suitable character, and B is the stopper, Which is forced into the mouth of the jar.

0 indicates a metallic strip, which is provided on one of its faces with a series of ribs 0, which are separated by intervening grooves orchannels 0. These grooves or channels areiprovided on one face of the strip 0, but the other face and the edges of the strip are preferably fiat and smooth, as shown by Fig. 3. The strip 0 is adapted to be placed inside of the mouth or neck of the jar A, the ribbed and channeled face of said strip lying next tothe inner smooth face of the jar. The upper end of the strip 0 is adapted to be bent or doubled, as at d, around the top edge of the jar, and the end d of this strip is held in place by an elastic band e, of rubber or any other suitable material.

After the fruit shall have been properly cooked it is introduced into the jar A by any suitable means and the preserved fruit is filled into the jar up to the neck thereof and to the line indicated at 00 in Fig. 1., thereby leaving a space or chamber at above the level of the fruit and the syrup. The next step in the operation consists in the introduction of the strip 0 into the open mouth or neck of the jar, the lower end of said strip extending into the chamber or space as or below the level oc-of the syrup. The end of the strip which protrudes from the jar is then bent, as at d d, and the band 6 is placed around the mouth of the jar in a position to engage With the bent portion d of the strip. The operator now forces the stopper B into the mouth of the jar, and the jar is then immersed in a heated liquid or syrup which is contained in a suitable vessel or tank. If desired, the jar may be laid on its side in the heated bath, and in practice Iprefer to place a number of the filled jars in this heated bath, in which the jars are allowed to cool. It is necessary, however, that the jars shall be fully immersed in the bath, and these jars, with the corrugated strips inserted therein, are permitted to remain in the bath for a sufficient length of time in order that the heated liquid may pass'through the channels c of the strips C, and therebyfill the chambers or spaces 00' of the jars with heated liquid.

In preserving fruits the heated liquid may consist of a syrup made of sugar and water; but in preserving vegetables hot water or other liquid matter may be employed to fill the chambers 00 of the jars. After the jars and their contents shall have cooled sufficiently it is necessary before removing them from the bath to withdraw the corrugated strips from the mouths of the jars, and this operation of withdrawing the corrugated strips can be easily effected by thrusting the hands into the bath, grasping the bent ends at of the strips, and pulling them out of the jars without displacing the stoppers B.

I prefer to use stoppers made of cork,which should be immersed in hot water before they are forced into the jars, and after the withdrawal of the corrugated strips 0 these cork stoppers will expand sufficiently to close the jars against the admission of atmospheric airinto the contents of the package. If necessary, the stoppered end of the jar may be hermetically closed by the application of a suitable sealing agent, such as wax.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Means for the admission of a liquid to stoppered jars, consisting of a corrugated strip adapted to form a passage or passages between the jar and its stopper.

2. The combination with a jar and a stopper, of a corrugated strip inserted between the jar and the stopper, and means for holding said strip temporarily in place.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a means for admitting liquid to a stoppered jar, consisting of a strip having a flat unbroken face on one side and a ribbed and channeled face on the opposite side.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM WALTER.

Witnesses:

ALBERT L. ACKLEY, GRANT C. ANGLE. 

